KTVD
KTVD, virtual channel 20 (UHF digital channel 19), is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station licensed to Denver, Colorado, United States. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., as part of a duopoly with NBC affiliate KUSA (channel 9). The two stations share studios on East Speer Boulevard in Denver's Speer neighborhood (to the immediate southeast of the studios shared by KWGN-TV (channel 2) and KDVR (channel 31)); KTVD's transmitter is located atop Lookout Mountain (near Golden). On cable, the station is available on Comcast Xfinity in standard definition on channel 5, and in high definition on digital channel 657. It is also carried on CenturyLink Prism channels 20 and 1020. History KHBC Prior to KTVD's sign on, the UHF channel 20 allocation in Denver was occupied by KHBC, which signed on in the mid-1950s. The station was hampered by low viewership as only a small percentage of television sets in the area were even capable of receiving UHF stations since set manufacturers were not required to equip televisions with UHF tuners until the Federal Communications Commission passed the All-Channel Receiver Act in 1961, although UHF tuners were not included on all newer sets until 1964. This played a major factor in KHBC ultimately shutting down. A later construction permit for a planned station using the callsign KIRV that would have operated on the same channel expired without any station signing on. KTVD station history KTVD first signed on the air on December 1, 1988. Originally operating as an independent station, it maintained a general entertainment format featuring classic cartoons and sitcoms, old movies and religious programming. The station lost money throughout its first two years on the air, and its original owners filed the station for bankruptcy in August 1990. At one point, KTVD had only carried a few low-budget shows, religious programs and infomercials. The station began to turn a profit with the paid programming that aired, and gradually added a number of barter syndicated shows, such as cartoons, some older sitcoms and first-run talk shows, to its schedule. In March 1994, KTVD was purchased by Newsweb Corporation, operating under the licensee of Channel 20 TV Company, and emerged from bankruptcy. On October 27, 1993, KTVD became a charter affiliate of the upstart KCOP-TV United Paramount Network (UPN) for January 16, 1995. Channel 20 TV Company acquired KTVS (channel 3, now KCDO-TV) in Sterling in 1999, and converted it into a satellite station of KTVD; that station changed its callsign to KUPN in 2002 to reflect its UPN affiliation. On December 15, 2005, Newsweb Corporation announced the sale of KTVD to the Gannett Company, owners of NBC affiliate KUSA-TV (channel 9). This was despite rumors that Fox Television Stations (which owned Fox station KDVR (channel 31) at the time locally, and is the current owner of KTVD's former Chicago sister station WPWR-TV) would purchase the station to create a duopoly with KDVR; the transaction was finalized on June 26, 2006. Newsweb retained possession of KUPN, and converted it into an independent station in June 2006. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Time Warner announced that the two companies would shut down UPN (which CBS had acquired one month earlier in December 2005 following its split from Viacom) and The WB and combine the respective programming from the two networks to create a new jointly-owned "fifth" network called The CW. As part of the announcement, the network signed a ten-year agreement with Tribune Broadcasting to affiliate with 13 of the 16 WB-affiliated stations that the company had owned at the time – including WB affiliate KWGN-TV (channel 2), which was named as the network's Denver charter affiliate. Nearly one month later on February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced the launch of a new competing network, MyNetworkTV, which would be operated by its Fox Television Stations and Twentieth Television units. On July 12 of that year, the Gannett Company signed an affiliation agreement to make KTVD the Denver affiliate of MyNetworkTV; the station officially affiliated with the network upon MyNetworkTV's September 5, 2006 launch. As of November 2014, the station's website merely contains the MyNetworkTV default video portal, links to KUSA's website, and FCC-required public file reports. Around the first week of October 2012, Gannett entered a dispute against Dish Network regarding compensation fees and Dish's AutoHop commercial-skip feature on its Hopper digital video recorders. Gannett ordered that Dish discontinue AutoHop on the account that it is affecting advertising revenues for KUSA and KTVD, thus taking a big chunk out of the pockets of potential advertisers in the Rocky Mountains. Gannett threatened to pull all of its stations (including KUSA and KTVD) should the skirmish continue beyond October 7 and Dish and Gannett fail to reach an agreement. The two parties eventually reached an agreement after extending the deadline for a few hours. On June 29, 2015, Gannett split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. KUSA and KTVD were retained by the latter company, named TEGNA. Category:MyNetworkTV Affiliates Category:Denver Category:Colorado Category:Channel 20 Category:Television channels and stations established in 1988 Category:1988 Category:Former independent stations Category:Former UPN affiliates Category:Tegna, Inc. Category:UHF Category:MyNetworkTV Colorado Category:Former NTA Film Network affiliates Category:MeTV Affiliates